Computer networks are a major work tool in many enterprises and in other organizations. Generally, each user is assigned a computer and a network connects the computers of all the users. The computers may all be located at a same locality and/or may be connected through wide area networks, such as the Internet. The network is used, for example, to exchange data, to access peripherals (e.g., servers, printers) and/or to access databases.
It is important to control and support the operation of the computers of the organization in order to allow efficient utilization of the computers.
U.S. patent publication 2003/0069972 to Yoshimura et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a network in which virtual local area network (VLAN) definitions are changed dynamically, according to the available bandwidth of the links of the network.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,474 to Eichert et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a dynamic policy management system for controlling policy definitions of active devices (e.g., switches, routers) of a network.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,671,724 to Pandya et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a system for managing a distributed network in which agent modules interact with a control module.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,256,741 to Stubblebine, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method of specifying security protocols and policy constraints in distributed systems.
US patent publication 2002/0013807 to Richard, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a process for control and management of an intranet network. An agent is installed on the computers of the network and the agent is used for software installation tasks on the computer.
U.S. patent publication 2002/0019864 to Mayer, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an IT network comprising distributed managers and agents arranged hierarchally.
PCT publication WO 2004/051437 to Farmer, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a system for providing an enterprise-based security policy to agents on computers of the network.
The systems described in the above patents aid in the control of defining policies and controlling their enforcement. Still, the task of defining the policies is very time consuming and therefore, in most cases, only very simple policies are instituted and enforced.
U.S. patent publications 2002/0198961 and 2003/0046343 to Krishnamurthy et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, describes a server that clusters the clients that approach the server according to the quality of their connection and accordingly takes actions to accommodate the clients.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,314 to Sullivan et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an automated technical support system, which scans a user's computer and provides suggestions for repair and even performs the repair.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,654,914 to Kaffine et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes techniques for determining causes of faults on used computers, through a network connection.
Not all problems are identified by the systems of these last two patents. Usually these systems identify only problems that are already known from previous human analysis over other computer networks.